Cosmic Fantasy 2

Telenet scans
Click here to see the front cover of the Japanese manual.
Click here to see the back insert of the Japanese version.

Released by Working Designs in 1992, CF2 quickly became a famous title among TurboCD owners. Some people actually bought systems simply for this game.
Many people are familiar with the game, though its "true RPG" format failed to capture many people's attention, due to its menus and somewhat dull interface. The main drawing point of the disc was its cinemas. At the time, there were few discs with so many colourful, rather well-animated cinemas. Of course, they are extremely dated by now.

The basic story is one we all know and hate: rescue the princess. However, there is an unexpected plot quirk in a (relatively) short one-way time travelling incident, as well as a change of perspective (more or less) halfway through the game when the player loses control of Van (the main character) and instead helps Babbette, a young Cosmic Hunter cadet, who's out with her ship, Little Fox. One realizes this is not your ordinary cadet when she decides to investigate an emergency distress signal because she's bored and to do that, blackmails her computer, Robert. (And we have to mention that yes, her middle finger was edited out from "that scene.")

I think I'm getting ahead of myself. Perhaps starting from the beginning would be intelligent? Okay. Life is peaceful on planet Idea, in the Donakri Galaxy. The inhabitants of Clan Island look forward to harvesting the abundant Marooga Nuts, unaware that three cinemas later, they will lose a third of the towns on the island. The game starts off with Van going out on a hunting trip. After a brief stop at the Shura Tree (a giant tree that all Japanese RPGs seem to enjoy including), he notices that (strangely) a nearby village is on fire and when he goes to investigate, discovers Galam's troops have burned it down, looking for the princess of Remlai Castle. She had been living among the villagers all this time, but they'd gotten the wrong village. (Of course.) Oddly, it's revealed the princess is Laura, Van's girlfriend. Off he rushes back to the village to rescue her, but alas! He is too weak and too late. After getting beaten to a pulp, he is rescued by the mayor and the rest of the game is spent by Van trying to reach Laura and exact revenge on Galam and his goons.

To complicate matters, Galam didn't just capture Laura. No, he wants to take over the planet. While this may seem a daunting task, never fear! Along the way, you meet such friendly people as Annie and Nayan, Cobra, Saya, and Marley from CF1, and fight about 3 zillion enemies. Sometimes all the combat seems excessive, but it's necessary to gain levels. Besides that, it's pretty quick and painless. Unfortunately, some of the bosses really don't look too special.

Throughout, the cinemas unfold the story at timely intervals and these help the player to continue. And as you advance, it is revealed there are Cosmic Pirates on Idea! Cosmic Pirate Vega eventually clashes with Cosmic Hunter Cobra. 

The box "art" is a poor rendering of Van, Pico, and Babbette behind which is Little Fox and behind that is Galam holding Idea in one hand and Laura (in a glass/crystal ball) in the other. Someone at WD (I forget who) told me the Japanese box art had a similar illustration, but Galam and Little Fox were less prominent. If you're REALLY interested in seeing it, WD has a scan of it.  I refuse to link to it (because that is against my morals :) ) but it can be found at http://www.workingdesigns.com/museum/turbo/cosmic_fantasy_2_front.jpg.  Additionally, you can find the less-offensive back cover nearby, as well. :)

The disc face, oddly enough, features Sayo and Cobra. Since the story mainly concerns Van and Babbette, why not them? Oh, well. The Japanese version has a small picture of Babbette.
I once sat down early in 1993 and tried to figure out the lyrics to the ending theme, True Love: A Cosmic Fantasy. Here's what I got. Anyone have the official lyrics from WD? (Since this question has been posed for years now, I assume that's a "no.")

Fly to the stars on adventure.
Good vibes are in the air today, everywhere.
Friends throughout life give us faith.
But they can fail to fill the void in our souls.
If we could do it once more,
I think our paths would cross again.
Two can do whatever they can dream.
Deep, eternal love is what we seek.
Our hearts, seeking the love once lost,
Desire to find it again.

I also copied down a bunch of the credits:
 
 

Cast

Van Manning Garett Laura Kim Betush Van Frankie Muse Young Laura Melanie Schmitt Cadet Babbette Tammy Jones Pico Lief Huckman Wizda Dixie Garett Cosmic Pirate Vega Wilson Smith Nova Sam Looney Darva Dean Adams Abel Wilson Smith Annie Rhonda Gibson Galam Dean Adams Robert Blake Dorsey Cobra Matt Atwood Sayo Katie Moller Nayan Dean Adams Narrator Blake Dorsey Major Payne Blake Dorsey Woman Dixie Garett CSC Director (Tokida) Sam Looney (CSC is short for Cosmic Space Command.)

It's rather interesting that when Working Designs translated the manual, they copied the layout almost exactly! Somehow, I get the feeling that most companies don't care about the original manual layouts. Now, if only they'd left the cover alone. ;)

As I was searching through some old messages, I came across some interesting info.

(7/18/93) Victor Ireland wrote:

Actually, PICO was done by the sound engineer's fiance's (at
the time, now wife) student.

The kid was a natural.  He was 10, and we spent about 3 days
in the studio recording Pico's parts over and over. The
difference is really that *I* *KNOW* what I want to hear,
and we don't stop until *I* get it.  If an actor isn't ->
cutting it, we get a different actor...
 

                         DBTH - Vic

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(Last tweaked: 11/20/99)